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First M42 & M45


Uranium235

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Hiya,

Last night I managed to get my first few shots of M42 and M45. However, they kinda suck when compared to others ive seen with exactly the same scope :D. Despite loads of messing around in DSS, I could not get the colours to come through as they should.

Is there something ive missed in deepskystacker?

Maybe my focus isnt as good as it should have been on M42 (focusing is hard with just a viewfinder on the D60), and the bottom right corner of the M45 shot got RUINED by my neighbours security light going on and off :)

But, the one good outcome is that im getting better at aligning the mount and tracking objects... practice makes perfect!

M42 = 26x30sec ISO 1600, 10 dark, 10 bias

M45 = 12x30sec ISO 1600, 10 dark, 10 bias

Thanks in advance for any help :eek:

post-18171-133877420944_thumb.jpg

post-18171-133877420951_thumb.jpg

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Good effort there - very promising results - I think you'll be able to get more out of these with more practice at processing. There's loads of help and advice here on the forum but one thing I can start you off with is reducing the vignetting. You need to take some flats and include them when you stack in DSS. It will dramatically reduce the vignetting.

Oh and as for the security light (annoying aren't they) - if possible try and rig up a mask to stop the light hitting the scope - I actually use some 8 foot garden canes with an old blanket draped over them to mask our neighbour's outside light - seems to be working.

Good effort though.

Regards

John

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Ahhh... flats yeah. Ive thought about that but it seems like a tricky thing to do, trying to get a uniform light source. I thought about "cheating" with a laptop screen (showing a white pic fullscreen) and a piece of A4 to diffuse the light.... would that work?

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Don't be intimidated by flats. I used to be until I used them for the first time on my last post. All I did was stretch a white t shirt over the end of my scope and take 4 exposures pointing at the ceiling. No joke!

I added the 'flats' to DSS and I was pleasantly surprised it worked so well. I cant beleive I hadn't done it sooner.

M42 isn't bad and you got the Running Man too without realising it. Keep

cheers

John

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Off to a very good start there. flats will deal with the vignette, use notepad on your laptop screen maximised, set the camera to Av mode and holding the laptop screen right in front of the front of the scope fire away. I set to continuous shooting and just hold down the remote shutter button.

M45 isn't quite framed right... a wee tweak will put that right though...

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Thanks guys! lol.... i didnt realise i got the running man too :)

Its good news to hear the laptop trick works, a good idea to just point the scope at the ceiling too. But the laptop looks like the more convenient route because i can keep all of the shots grouped on the memory card (so i know whats what when processing), plus i dont have to lug the scope indoors to take the flats.

Cool... so I will try that next time, whenever that may be!! (loads more snow to come this week... bah!)

Oh, how long should the exposure be for a flat?

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To be fair to the neighbours, they did switch if off when I asked them nicely - they seem to have it switched rather than on a PIR sensor.

Right... Flats, ive had a go at making a few using the lappy screen & notepad. I had to guess the exposure time since the D60 has no AV mode - if any other mode than "M" is selected, it just says "no lens attached". Anyways, I set it for 1/160 and took 10.

Threw it all into DSS, poked it about a bit and this is what I got. A bit better, but im still not satisfied. Come Friday night, im gonna set up again for clear skies and nail that sucker good :)

post-18171-133877421068_thumb.jpg

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